Resources: Finite and Infinite Resources
Human resources have been valued for over 30 or 40 years in all walks of life. Natural resources were the only resources known to us before that. We do not yet hear of organizational resources. Social resources are not a concept in the world. In the 19th century Man was regarded as a hand, a labourer, a disposable factor of production that was purchased by capital. Now the world regards the worker as a human being, as a precious and indispensable resource for work. The Industrial Revolution took root in England, although the scientific discoveries on which it was based were present and available to all the nations of Europe. The unique factor in England was not technology. It was the accumulation of surplus capital that resulted from rising agricultural productivity. Thus, society discovered that Money was a Social Power, a Social Resource, and not merely a medium of exchange. By that time, money had become an eminent social organisation, an organizational resource recognised by man. What is a resource? Whatever enables a greater scope for accomplishment is a resource. That which is recognized as useful to human beings is a resource. #The most commonly accepted resource is the technological resource. #The most effectively used but least recognised is the organizational resource. #Examine the resources we have been using all along: #* Physically, man raises his output by working harder. #* Vitally, when he takes greater interest in the work, he discovers a greater energy within him. #* Mentally, he suddenly thinks of a better way of working, which is a mental resource. # In each plane, the impact of the higher plane becomes a resource. This is what is meant by a progress by descent. # Even though it is not fully recognized, the greatest resource has been the human mind, its initiative in an atmosphere of freedom. #Organization is essentially a mental resource. It has not been given the honour of recognition in the same measure technology has been received. #* The Roman Empire rose, spread far and wide. The Romans borrowed thought from Greece and added self-discipline and organization. Hence Law -- Roman law – was born. Discipline and organization are mental resources. # In a sense society has been the source of all great resources. #* For a business, the market offers the greatest possible resource. To avail of that resource, the Mind should approach it with the right strategy. #Anything can become a resource if only our view is appropriately changed. It is one thing for a certain object to have the potential of serving as a resource. It is entirely another thing for it to be so recognised. The pearl has been there from time immemorial, but its value to man arose only after he ascribed that value to it. #Humanity has been extensively using many resources without fully recognizing their value. #The value of technology and money are the most recognised, cherished resources. Mind discovering its idea in Matter is technology. # Money became a resource by its power of organisation. It is man’s own TRUST in himself and in society through the government that enabled Money to acquire the power of social organisation. Up till now, the crude power of Money has been unconsciously employed at random. A conscious appreciation that Money is a social organisation will bring out vastly greater power from it. Resourcefulness Human mind is endowed with a great many faculties. Thinking, understanding, remembering, imagining, observing, discriminating, deciding, determining, caution, and resourcefulness are the faculties we know of. Human mind is not essentially social. It is mainly related to itself. Whether a person is resourceful or not is a capacity of his mind. It has nothing to do directly with his social personality. Resourcefulness in the sense of discovering new resources is an ability related only to that activity. For instance, it is a particular organisation of the mental faculties. It issues out of # A capacity to observe objects in themselves; # A capacity to see one object in its possible relation to another object; # An ability to see such relationship in the context of creating fresh products or uses; # The social centre in one’s consciousness; # One’s knowledge of the basic structure of materials; # A quest for creating new products, new uses; # A quest of social growth in the mind. Resources -- Finite and Infinite Resources are not found in Nature. They are created. It is the human mind that creates a resource out of natural objects or social circumstances when it discovers a value for them. # Sand is sand. It is the human mind that first thinks of using it to make bricks, then glass and eventually into silicon chips and fiber optic cabling. # Petroleum is decayed organic matter. It is the human mind that discovers it can be burned in an oil lamp, refined into fuel for an engine or transformed into cloth, chemicals and life-saving drugs. Thus, there is no inherent limit to the potential productivity of resources other than that which is imposed by the limits of our vision and imagination. #It is the mind that makes an object into a resource. #As mind is infinite, so resources can be infinite. #In the limited human context, the greatest known resource is a human relationship that issues harmonious joy. #A resource emerges when the mind evaluates a material in the context of an end use. #Less formed persons as well as those who do not bind themselves to their present forms create the greatest resources. #Resources are the result of resourcefulness. #On earth the greatest existing resources are human resources. #The mind that loses its finite fixity, better still that acquires infinite flexibility can turn any finite resource into an infinite resource. #As you go up the scale of physical to spiritual, resources multiply manifold. #The subtler the thought, the subtler the use, the more delicate or sophisticated the instrument, the greater is the resource that is generated. Infinity emerging from Infinitesimal ''One expression of the infinity emerging out of the infinitesimal is the formation of a resource ''psd 95 The one vote a man is given and casts includes within it invisibly the right to become the candidate himself. In a sense it is the way infinity hides in the infinitesimal. A resource is energy organized as a usable force or skill. It may even be organized as a power or a link or even a strategy. Human life is negative and therefore positive examples are rare. Whether the example is positive or negative, the principle is true. A priest in South India had an aspiration to build a school in the 1940s. The management of the institution he worked in was against the idea out of petulant jealousy. The management was flush with money. Someone in the management taunted the priest that he could never build a school without financial assistance from them. He foolishly accepted the challenge based on pious hopes of public support. No such support was forthcoming. Life was kind to him. His ingenuity and determination to build the school economically inspired him to manufacture his own bricks and mortar. The brick making unit became a resource of profit. With that profit, he manfully built the school until it was complete. Later, he had a discussion with someone whose knowledge about Resources was theoretical. The priest declared that in 25 years he had managed to collected a sum of Rs.2500 from the public at a time when his annual budget was Rs.85,000. Applying the above principle, the theoretician showed him that the spare land on which the school was located was a resource he could utilize to meet his entire annual requirement. Work is structured. Working through the structure, one is efficient but narrow and often meets with problems. Coming out of that structure, life is full of possibilities. Reviewing these possibilities in terms of our requirements, vast resources arise. *One vibration of the infinity taking form is an infinite Resource. *In theory, examining the non-formal resources of any project of $1 billion will bring to the surface unperceived resources equivalent to another $1 billion. This is so because in life for one part to act all the other parts are to remain inactive. Hence the potentials. *In wartime we see the society throwing up all its potentials voluntarily to perform five or six times more efficiently. Following World War II, Western Europe lay in devastation and did not know its own resources, so it accepted Marshall Plan aid from the U.S.A. The USSR was more conscious. It rejected Marshall Plan aid and restored life by relying only on its own resources. *A mother who gives birth to four children in five years takes care of all the children and keeps house as well. When the children are grown up, that reservoir of capacity remains in her in potential. One may ask whether the mother can continue to function like that throughout her life. Can a man who works non-stop during crucial moments, work all year round at the same pace? Work in all efficient places is on that scale. A neo rich man finds himself occupied for 18 or 19 hours a day all the year round. As it is finds work pleasantly engaging, he is not averse to it. *People who previously earned $20 per acre, work a hundred times harder when they earn $2,000 an acre. This has come to stay as a way of life. No one complains of more work. *Politicians in power and industrialists often work long hours. They do not grudge it. These examples illustrate the phenomenon of infinite energy expressing through man the infinitesimal. The future is not for structured formal work. As the Internet shows, the field will go on expanding without limits. We have to learn the strategy of bringing the infinity out of the infinitesimal. Fresh resources ''Discovery of fresh resources is a civilising influence. ''psd 96 Civilisation is to live in greater comfort and ease through better conveniences. #The shift from walking to horseback riding is one such expression of it. How does a man come to ride a horse? An idea of the Mind put in to practice makes riding possible. That idea is a mental resource. #Primitive Man ate raw food and raw meat. To cook the food and roast the meat before eating was a step forward. # Fire is a resource. To use fire for cooking is a resourceful idea. #Electricity is a force. Steam is power. To discover that force and this power is a scientific endeavour. To discover their use in telegraph and engine is a technological resource. #In the 18th century Europe, everyone studied everything, including insects, plants and animals. As a result of these studies, Charles Darwin discovered the principle of evolution. Since then, the thinking of humankind is dominated by the phenomenon of evolution. Man began to think and is seriously endeavouring to discover the phenomenon of evolution in every walk of life. Nations are evolving into nation states. Languages are evolving to become classical or vernacular. Societies are evolving from tribal existence to urban living. Governments are evolving into liberal democracies. Education is evolving from an instrument of efficiency into an endowment of Mind. As a result of such advances in thought, various resources were discovered. #Education was discovered as a Resource for administration as it creates intelligentsia. # Companies were identified as resources of prosperity for the population. #Technology was perceived as a political resource that could circumvent the rigid positions of governments and create a climate of international fellow feeling. #Currency in the form of the Euro has become a political resource for uniting the European nations. #Fresh resources are generated by #*Ground-breaking discoveries. #*Small significant innovations in the existing way of life. In between these poles, many resources have been discovered as a result of change, each of which powerfully shook the society of which it was a part. Paper currency did it in the past. The credit card is doing it today. For example, in India, arranged marriages are yielding place to love marriages, a very small change from a wider perspective, considering that marriage as an institution remains intact. But it is shaking the very foundation of Indian society and Indian youth feel a great freedom in the prospect of choosing their own marriage partner. To them arranged marriages now seem to be tribal, barbaric. In a similar manner, the shift from the fountain pen to felt tip pen and from the typewriter to the computer have revolutionalized living. Resources are of many types -- mechanical, technological, natural, instrumental, social, institutional, organizational, domestic, rural, urban, civic, financial, artistic, and in every walk of life. Anything can be a resource ''While resources emerge out of the immediate environment now, we must not forget that anything may serve as a resource for any activity. ''psd 97 #American public life belied the age-old belief that the leaders of the country, wealthy men and scholars must all come out from aristocracy and royalty. America demonstrated the Truth that accomplishment in public life is by hard work, training and organization. #Philosophically and spiritually, each is in all and all is in each. Technology is well on the way to demonstrating this truth. #Even what happened in the hoary past can reveal this truth when we know there was no birth in the beginning. The humble origins of Napoleon or Socrates or even Shakespeare testify to this fact. #Anything can serve as a resource for any purpose, if only the right strategy is adopted to convert energy into results and the rule of the link are known. #*It is not the veterans that won World War II, but teenagers dedicated to the cause. #*A viceroy who was an agricultural expert saw three million starve to death in Bengal in 1943. His successor, a military general, commissioned his military efficiency to enforce strict distribution and stopped starvation deaths. #*India faced mass starvation in 1965. FAO predicted disaster. A right organizational strategy based on a truth of life implemented by a Food Minister who was anxious to assume a different position ushered in the Green Revolution. #*There are instances of unschooled men founding universities. #*What conquests war alone can give, what peace military conquest alone can bring, humanity discovered can be secured by a marriage alliance between royal families. Such alliances served to preserve peace for very long periods and to avoid war on crucial occasions in Europe and elsewhere. #*The discovery of steam power and wind power is such. #*In India, a great discovery is being made. Corruption and tax evasion breed black money. But black money has to find a means a way in which it can be invested. It it channeled into investment in small scale industry; it goes to fund new colleges, hospitals, particularly educational institutions. Thus, black money has proved to be a resource for education. At the dawn of Independence in Madras for 23 districts there was one engineering college and two medical colleges. Now for the same region of 10 districts there are 220 engineering colleges and 43 medical colleges. It is ironic but true. #*The British did not intend to to found an Empire. Their main interest was in trade. Trade became a source of Empire by circumstances. #*The Trojan War was one of the earliest landmarks in history. It was fought over Helen. It gave birth to Hellas. The beauty of a woman became a resource for the emergence of Western civilisation. #*The purity of the French language made France intellectual. #*In World War II, enmity of the Allies for USSR became a resource – a stimulus for their cooperation -- that led to victory. Resourcefulness on different planes ''Presently every resource emerges out of mind. But body, vital, mind, Spirit can be resourceful in their own planes.psd 98 '''To create a new possibility of energy, power, comfort, expansion or profit out of a present potentiality is a Resource.' # Life exists in several planes. Each plane has many parts and many aspects. The traits and characteristics of a plane are different from its parts or aspects. Each one of them in relating to another develops a strategy. Specific skills are called for to put these strategies into action. The energy in each of these skills, strategies, parts, traits, aspects is specific to itself. For a smooth working and maximum results these energies are to be reconciled by a skill that is the knowledge of the entire organization. # During World War II physical efficiency in shipbuilding revealed the potential for a 440 fold increase. This is a resource within the physical plane. # The phenomenon of second wind is a resource within the vital plane. # The mental plane ranges from the primitive who made a tool to the genius. In between, it is very full of resources. The resources of the mental plane include #*Ideas #*Links #*Organizations #*Planning #*Coordination #*Technology #These resources are capable of drawing immense invisible powers from the subtle plane, as in the case of the mechanical advantage generated by a lever or pulley. A river linked to fields through canals opens up new resources that are vast. About a thousand years ago a lake of 13 mile long was constructed in South India. Modern Engineers who visited the lake marveled at the IDEA that created the lake, wondering at the fact that in the 10th century few tools of measurement were available for the task. #Memory is a resource of the Mind. It performed the miracle of preserving the Vedas over so many millenniums all over India with the same pronunciation. A expert in memory can listen to a hundred questions in succession on varying subjects from a hundred different people and then answer each in the same order, even if questions on poetry, mathematics, astronomy, and astrology are mixed. #Imagination is another rich resource of Mind which created the Poets. #The soldier on the battlefield exhibits enormous capacities of vital endurance of pain which is inconceivable during times of peace. The body releases its resources of hidden powers when it tries to save itself. Its convulsive powers are to be seen to be believed. #The Near Death Experience reveals powers of Spirit ordinarily not understood. #Lover possess the vital capacity to instinctively sense the presence of their beloved in a big crowd. Impact of a higher plane ''When one plane impacts on another, a greater resource issues.psd 99 '''A Resource can be generally described as the result of Mind on a plane.' A computer chip is the result of the impact of mind on sand, i.e. silicon. This is true of endless resources. A more basic rule is that a higher plane’s impact on a lower plane generates a resource. #A road is an instrument of transport. A village is a location of primitive agriculture. A road laid across a village makes the village mobile, prosperous, civilized. #Before printing came education, in many cultures, was given by a scholar. The scholar was the textbook, as he knew it by heart. Before he started learning the pupil had to sit with the teacher and memorize the texts. It was confined to a few. Printing technology came and extended education to all through schools, as the texts were now available in the form of printed books. Technology is what everyone can see around as an expression of the above statement. #Before railways, families were confined to local areas. The radius of activity for finding a marriage partner or selling produce was confined to 5 or 10 miles. Railways came. It is technology. It is transport. The social resources available to every family for marriage or marketing produce multiplied exponentially, extending to the whole nation. #Imagine any kingdom anywhere in the world in 1500 AD. Life functioned at a minimal level. Government consisted of the king and his coterie. ORGANIZATION is a social resource of the mental plane. Administration was born. The government was organized. Some departments were created. Life advanced 100-fold. #The Roman Empire was a landmark in history. Its success lasted centuries, but it was unable to forge human unity beyond extending Roman Law to other peoples. What the Empire failed to achieve, Christianity achieved. Christendom extended across the borders of nations uniting people based on a common faith. This political resource was made possible by the impact of religion on rational life. # For the retailer market is a more precious resource than Money. Earlier traders had no way of expanding their market. When newspapers were organized, Mind created the idea of advertisement. Suddenly the market resource was extended far and wide. At the beginning of the 20th century, another IDEA of Mind, customer satisfaction, helped to further expand the retailer’s market. The idea of customer satisfaction is a resource. # Any higher plane impacting on a lower plane creates resources. Various creative impacts are possible from a higher plane on the planes below it: #* Mind on the physical. #*Spirit on the Mind. #*Vital on the body. #*Mind on the vital. #* Spirit on the body. #*Spirit on the vital. # The impact of the lower plane on the higher also creates resources. That is a different topic. Resources can emerge out of anything ''Resources can emerge out of anything. For example, one can create a vast resource out of punctuality.psd 100 #Resources are of many kinds -- creative, dynamic, preservative, organizational, etc. #*The higher plane impinging on the lower plane creates opportunities and energy. #*Increasing speed or efficiency brings about dynamic resources. #*Organizing a loose structure creates preservative resources. #*Introducing higher organization is organizational resources. #In theory, there is no object, event, or person which cannot serve as a resource. #'Definition of a Resource:' Reviewing potentialities in the light of opportunities, every new idea becomes a Resource. *Steam was a resource of power when its power was recognized. *Education was a national resource in China which enabled the Chinese to create an intelligentsia that came to stay. *The Americans used education as a direct resource for their work. Each time a new state was founded, one of the first things done was to establish an agriculture college which in time became a university. *Money served as a Resource for the Industrial Revolution. Normally the new technologies were that resource. Socially perceptive people saw the role of Money as an organizer and drafted its services for the Industrial Revolution. *An organized power which an unorganized sector draws upon for its growth is a social resource. *Indian Freedom Movement used satyagraha as a weapon successfully. In a spiritually developed nation, to be able to use the power of the invisible spirit proved to be a Resource. *During wartime, ship builders had to train welders to walk carefully on narrow beams spanning different parts of the ship. Henry Kaiser recruited local ballet dancers to reduce the time required for training. *Resources are supplied by similar fields. *Punctuality is a great resource in a country that has not accepted it. Chairman Mao never knew of punctuality. He set no fixed appointments, so there was no occasion for him to be punctual. Whenever he was ready, people were taken to him for the meeting, even heads of states. Should China accept punctuality as a national discipline or value, her GDP will double on that score alone. *A change of attitude can creates resources, such as the change in attitude regarding the employment of women. *Raising the level of skills, such as from memorization to understanding, creates a mental resource. *When agriculture was related to chemistry, the resource of fertilizer arose. The discovery that micro-organisms are responsible for the original health of the soil is creating a more powerful resource than fertilizers. *The resource of exercise infuses health and vitality into the flabby muscles of a sedentary worker. *Ladies all over the world have found that dress material is a great resource to enhance their attractiveness '''Back to' #[[Principles of social development|'Index of Principles']] #'Instruments of development' ---- References ---- http://server3.web-stat.com/4/humanscience.gif [http://www.web-stat.com/checkstats1.htm H] Category:Definition Category:life Category:Management Category:Principles of Social Development Category:Process of Creation